Housing for electronic apparatus

ABSTRACT

SEVERAL UNIT CASINGS INCLUDING ELECTRONIC UNITS RESPECTIVELY ARE DISPOSED IN SIDE-TO-SIDE RELATIONSHIP AND DETACHABLY FIXED TO A SIDE MEMBER. TWO COVERS ARE FITTED ONTO THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE UNITED SIDE MEMBER AND UNIT CASINGS AND FORMED INTO A UNITARY STRUCTURE ALONG WITH THE LATTER BY MEANS OF A SINGLE SCREW ENGAGING THE COVERS.

United States Patent Yasulrazu Katayama; Katsuyoshi Okamoto; l-lisayuki Nomura; Aldkazu Kurohara, all of Amagasaki,

[72] Inventors Japan [21] Appl. No. 6,523

[22] Filed Jan. 28,1970

[45] Patented Nov. 2, 1971 [73] Assignee Mitsubishi Denki Kabushlki Keisha Tokyo, Japan [32] Priority Jan. 31, 1969, Mar. 7, 1969 [33] Japan [54] HOUSING FOR ELECTRONIC APPARATUS 2 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

52 U.S.Cl 114/50, 174/58,:417/120 s1 lnt.Cl H05k5/00 [50] Field of Search l74/50, 52,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,043,532 6/1936 Dubilier 174/52 X 2,175,025 10/1939 Hooven l74/S2 X 2,290,l48 6/1942 Amidon [74/52 X 3,264,526 8/1966 Wiggerman 317/101 Primary Examiner-Darrell L. Clay Attorneys-Robert E. Burns and Emmanuel J. Lobato ABSTRACT: Several unit casings including electronic units respectively are disposed in side-to-side relationship and detachably fixed to a side member. Two covers are fitted onto the opposite ends of the united side member and unit casings and formed into a unitary structure along with the latter by means ofa single screw engaging the covers.

FATENTEDNUV 2 IHYI SHEET 2 BF 2 FIG. 2

HOUSING FOR ELECTRONIC APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to improvements in a housing for an electronic apparatus such as communication apparatus wherein a plurality of casings having electronic units disposed therein respectively are mechanically interconnected into a unitary structure.

One type of the conventional housings referred to has comprised a main chassis fixedly secured to a U-shaped side member, for example by welding, screws or riveting, to form a unitary structure having the requisite rigidity. Then a plurality of casings having disposed therein respective electronic units have been screwed to or plugged into the opposite surfaces of the chassis after which a pair of covers are fixedly secured to the upper and lower ends of the side member as by screwing. Another type of the conventional housings has comprised a U- shaped side member fixedly secured to a front member along with the associated main chassis to form a unitary structure having the requisite rigidity. Then a plurality of casings having disposed therein respective electronic units and a pair of covers have been fixedly secured to the united front member, main chassis and side member respectively in the similar manner as in the above-mentioned one type of housings.

Those types of conventional housings, however, have caused some problems. Firstly, they have been relatively large in the number of structural members required and complicated in construction. In every event the housing has included those portions thereof each formed of twoor three-ply parts of the sheet material constituting housing resulting Lin excessive increases in rigidity and quantity of those portions. Secondly, the number of screws, rivets or welded joints used for fixing the castings together into a unit has increased leading to the necessity of performing the assembling operation with manual labor and resulting time being wasted and so on. The problems just described have been an obstacle to the attempts to increase the productivity of housings for electronic apparatus while relieving their weights.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a new and improved housing for electronic apparatus good in productivity and maintenance and easily accessible to parts involved.

It is another object of the invention to provide improved means for easily assembling the housings of the type described in the preceding paragraph.

The invention accomplishes these objects by the provision of a housing for an electronic apparatus comprising, in combination, a plurality of unit casings having respective elec' tronic units accommodated therein{ a side member having detachably secured thereto the plurality of unit casings, and a detachable cover for closing in common the interiors of the unit casings.

In order to detachably secure the plurality of unit casings to the side member, screws may be preferably used. Alternative ly, a plurality of claws may be provided on either of the opposite side faces of each casings and fitted into the complementary holes disposed at their predetermined positions corresponding to those of the claws on the side member after which the claws are bent over the side member.

Advantageously an L-shaped mounting plate having a receptacle seat disposed on one face thereof may be detachably secured to a predetermined portion of the side member or each of selected ones ofthe unit casings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a housing for an electronic apparatus constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention with the unit casings illustrated in phantom;

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental side elevational view of a modification of the invention; and

FIGv 4 is a sectional view taken along the section line IV- IV of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS While the invention will be described in terms of a communication apparatus it is to be understood that the same is equally applicable to electronic apparatus other than the communication apparatus.

Referring now to the drawings and FIGS. I and 2 in particular, it is seen that an arrangement disclosed therein comprises a frame 10 formed of any suitable thin sheet metal in a U- shaped cross section for example and has mounting holes I2 and notches 14 disposed at their predetermined positions on both legs of the U as best shown in FIG. 2 and for a purpose as will be apparent hereinafter. A receiver casing is generally designated by the reference numeral I6 and shown as including a plurality, in this case, three, of unit casings l8 interconnected in side-to-side relationship and into a unitary structure .by a side member 20. The side member 20 may be similarly formed of the same material as the frame 10 into U-shaped cross section and provided with a plurality of screw-threaded mounting holes 22 at their predetermined positions on both legs of the U. A transmitter casing generally designated by the reference numeral 24 is similar in construction to the receiving casing 16 and the components thereof are designated by the same reference numerals denoting the corresponding components of the receiving casing I6. The trans mitter casing 24 is shown in FIG. 2 as including further an L shaped mounting plate 26 fixed thereto by a screw 28 and having a receptacle seat 30 disposed on one face, in the illustrated embodiment, the exposed right-hand face 32 as viewed in FIG. 2 of the mounting plate. After the screw 28 has been removed from the transmitter casing 24 with a connecting line 34 extending from the interior of the unit casing(s) I8 to the receptacle seat being preliminarily slacken, mounting plate 26 can be pulled out in the direction of the arrow 36 and then rotated through an angle of about Thereafter the mounting plate 26 can be again fixed to the casing 24 by means of the screw 28. In this way, the mounting plate 26 can vary in its mounted position through the simple operation without the necessity of removing the receptacle seat 30 and/or the connecting line 34 from the mounting plate 26 and/or the casing respectively.

The unit casings 18 forming the receiver and transmitter casings l6 and 24 include the respective electronic units (not shown). Both the casings I6 and 24 are brought into their predetermined positions in a space confined by the frame 10 as shown by the broken lines in FIG. 2 and then fixedly secured in those positions to the frame III by having screws 38 extending through the associated mounting holes I2 on the frame 10 and screw-threaded into the aligned threaded holes 22 on the side members 20 as shown in FIG. I. In their fixed positions the receiver easing I6 is separated away from the transmitter casing 26 by a predetermined distance as shown in FIG. I for the purpose as will be apparent later.

Then a pair of upper and lower covers 40 and 42 are snugly fitted onto the upper and lower ends of the side member [0 having disposed therein the receiver and transmitter casings I6 and 24 to close those ends. The upper and lower covers 40 and 42 are provided on those portions thereof facing the above-mentioned space between the casings I6 and 24 with a hole 44 and a stud 46 in axially aligned relationship with the free end portion of the stud 46 having a threaded hole 48. The hole 46 and the stud 44 are preferably disposed on the central portions of the covers 40 and 42 respectively. Both the covers 40 and 42 are fixedly secured to the frame I0 by having a fastening screw 48 screw threaded into the threaded hole 44 on the end portion of the stud 40. It is noted that the stud 46 such a length that the upper and lower covers 40 and 42 in their assembled position are applied with tensioning forces.

In the arrangement illustrated, the receiver casing 16 has been mechanically connected to the transmitter casing 24 through the frame by means of the screws 38 engaging the mounting holes 12 on the frame 10 and the threaded holes 22 on the casings l6 and 24 aligned to the respective holes 12 whereby both the casings have been formed into a unitary structure having a mechanical strength resulting from the composition of the mechanical strengths of both casings and a rigidity increased to the requisite magnitude.

In addition, the upper and lower covers 40 and 42 have been snugly fitted onto the outer periphery of the frame 10 on the opposite ends and the fastening screw 48 extending through the hole 44 on the upper cover 40 then is put in screw threaded engagement with the stud 46 on the lower cover 42 to pull both the covers toward each other until the covers are recessed on the central portions enough to contact the internal surface of the upper cover 40 with the free end of the stud 46 on the lower cover 42. At that time the proper fastening force is provided with the result that the covers 40 and 42 are completely fixed to each other. Under such assembled conditions, the housing for an electronic apparatus, in this case the communication apparatus, according to the invention has been completed including various components such as the frame 10, the upper cover 40, the lower cover 42 etc., disposed around the receiver and transmitter casings l6 and 24 and effectively cooperating to one another to exhibit a rigidity required for the housing and also a mechanical strength sufficient to withstand any external force applied to the housing.

Thus it will be appreciated that the upper cover 40 can readily be engaged by and disengaged from the lower cover 42 through the operation of the single screw 48. Thus after the covers 40 and 42 have been removed, the interior of the receiver and transmitter casings are permitted to be readily inspected and adjusted whenever it is necessary to do so.

If necessary, a control panel 50 may be fixedly secured to the frame 10 in the manner as will be subsequently described and as shown in FIG. I. The control panel 50 can be attached to one side, in this case, the bottom of the U of the frame 10 by having a pair of mounting lugs 52 on the opposite sides thereof fitted into the above-mentioned notches 14 on the frame 10 until the rear side 54 of the control panel 50 abuts against the exposed surface 56 of the bottom of the U-shaped side member 10. Then screws 58 extend through the lugs 52- and engage the associated threaded holes on the frame 10.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a modification of the invention wherein claws are used in place of the screws for the purpose of fixedly securing the casings 16 and 24 to the frame performing the same operation as the side members shown in FIG. 2. The frame is shown in FIG. 4 as being ofa pair of mounting brackets 60 and 62 attached to a unit casing 18 such as the unit casing 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 in the manner as will be described hereinafter. The mounting brackets 60 and 62 have disposed at one end mounting threaded holes 64 serving to rigidly secure the associated bracket 60 or 62 to the frame 10 not shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. If desired, the mounting brackets 60 and 62 may have attached thereto two or more unit casings. The unit casing 18 can be operatively associated with a baseplate 66 on which a printed circuitry (not shown) is disposed, fixed to the other ends of the mounting brackets 60 and 62 by means of screws or the like (not shown). The unit casing 18 is provided on those opposite sides thereof attached to the brackets 60 and 62 with a plurality of notches 68 through which electric conductors 70 extend, and a plurality of guides 72 for the electric conductors 70. Further a plurality of tapered claws 74 are embossed at their predetermined positions on that portion attached to each bracket 60 or 62 of either of the opposite side surfaces of the unit casing 18 while a plurality of rectangular holes 76 complementary to the claws 74 are disposed at their positions corresponding to those of the claws on that portion thereof attached to the unit casing 18 of the individual bracket. Then the claws 74 are snugly fitted into the respective holes 76 as best shown by broken lines on the ri ht-hand portion of FIG. 4 and then bent over the associated rackets 60 and 62 as shown by solid lines on the left-hand portion of FIG. 4 and also in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 4, each of the claws 74 includes its root portion having a dimension of "l" substantially equal to the dimension 1" of the rectangular hole 76. Therefore the unit casing 18 is mechanically fixed to the frame 60-62 to form a unitary structure as in the previous embodiment. This provides an advantage that the unit casing 18 is maintained electrically connected to the side member or the mounting brackets 60 and 62 without any fear that jog will occur between the unit casing and the brackets in response to any mechanical vibration.

Also in order to electrically connect one to another casing 18, electric conductors such as shown by the reference numeral can extend through the associated notch or notches 68 preventing the same form floating off while at the same time the conductors are clamped by the guide or guides 72 thereby to eliminate the necessity of bundling the conductors together. In addition, the baseplate 66 for a printed circuitry (not shown) can be easily secured to the brackets 60 and 62 on the other bent end portion as shown in FIG. 4 and by means ofscrews or the like.

While the invention has been illustrated and described in conjunction with a few embodiments thereof it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the frame 10 may be in a flat shape rather than in a U-shape Also, to fix one to another component, any suitable fasteners may be used instead of the screws as previously described as long as they are possible to be engaged by and disengaged from the associated components. Further the L-shaped mounting plate 36 may be secured to a selected one of the unit casings 18.

What is claimed is:

l. A housing for electronic apparatus comprising in combination, a plurality of unit casings for accommodating therein respective electronic units constituting an electronic apparatus, at least one side member having detachably secured thereto said plurality of unit casings, a frame detachably secured to said one side member, each of said unit casings having claws disposed on either of the opposite faces of each of said unit casings, said side member having a plurality of holes complementary in shape and corresponding in position to said claws for receiving said claws fitted into said respective holes, said claws being bent over said side member, and a cover and a bottom detachably secured to said frame to close in common the interiors of said unit casings.

2. A housing for an electronic apparatus comprising. in combination, a plurality of unit casings for accommodating therein respective electronic units forming an electronic apparatus, at least one side member having detachably secured thereto said plurality of unit casings, a frame detachably secured to said one side member, each of said casings having a plurality of claws disposed on either of the opposite faces of each said unit casings, said side member having a plurality of holes complementary in shape and corresponding in position to said claws receiving said claws fitted into said respective holes, said claws being bent over said side member, top and bottom covers detachably mounted closing the interior of said casings, one cover having a hole and the other cover having a stud with a threaded hole on a free end thereof, and a fastening screw extending through said hole of said one cover and engaging said threaded hole on the free-end portion of said stud on the said other cover. 

